Phone left out in rain now doesn't work

Satellite phone left out in rain. it was face down and now won't work. The Rain must have went in the speaker holes on back and now it doesn't work. I checked the Battery and it is good. How do I fix it?

1 Answer

The first thing to do with water damage is to disassemble the device and clean the corrosion or water off the components with isiprople alcohol. After this inspect the board for damaged components which would be blackened or deformed. If everything looks good reassemble it and try to turn it on. If there are damaged components replace them. Ifixit did a great series on water damage here http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DsDpALKQjUQ.

Yes it is a different phone but the main principals of diagnosing water damage are the same. Water damage is always different depending on the situation like how long it was exposed and such. If I were attempting the repair, I would disassemble and clean it first and see if that does anything. Then it comes down to the inspection. Look for the corrosion spots before you clean and that will show you what components might be ruined. If there are blackened or corroded places by the battery these are probably at fault. Try reflowing the joints on the questionable spots and removing any shorted components. If at any point you get some sort of sign of life out of the phone try to figure out what is working and what still needs fixed and work on those areas.

Here is a guide for the phone model this was posted under Uniden Dect 6.0 Display Replacement . If its a different phone look for screws on the front and back also under the battery cover and under rubber feet if it has any. Remove all the screws you can find and start gently prying at the seams in the plastic. Hopefully they will separate easily, if not there might be plastic clips holding it together. In that case it will take a little more force and probably a twisting motion when prying. The main thing when taking apart electronics is to go slow and not use excessive force. If it still wont come apart try googling the specific model of phone and see if anyone has any pictures of it disassembled to give you more clues of how it comes apart. Good luck.